22nd March

Pete. Jeeze, am I glad to see you again.

I'm sorry for the absence. It's just, you know, the last of the movers came over the past few days and that sucked ass 'cause they pretty much managed to break everything. I felt like suing when the goldfish bowl I've kept since I was a kid ('cause I've always wanted a goldfish, duh) appeared in a four-piece special edition. Oh, and some crazy kid that was with them (mighta been a family business) kept laughing at my hair…until I landed a discreet boot in the ass when no-one was looking. But besides all that crap, it actually hasn't been that bad.

I actually recognise virtually everyone in the village now, even though they still narrow their eyes at me when I walk past. I know where the crappy electrical shop is, the grocery store, where the only bus out of this place stops, yadah yadah yadah, and I've got some pretty practice at walking from my place to the flower shop. Yup. Aeris has really helped me out actually, not just with my previously-crappy-but-now-pretty back yard, but moving and stuff. It's good to chat, she asks a lot about why I came out here and stuff…well, I didn't tell her about the writing, but I told her about Tifa. Turns out some bastard did exactly the same to her. Man, she's got some hang ups about that though – I wish it had never come up in conversation, she was all weird for the rest of the day.

So yeah, I might as well tell you. Ok – so there we were, sorting out all the little things from the boxes now that all the big stuff had gone in, and I was fussing over my goldfish bowl and she was setting out photos. So then, she picked up one, then dropped the dang thing and went all white.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

'Where shall I put this, Cloud?' Aeris called from behind the mound of boxes. Cloud attempted to wade through the cardboard to look at what she had in her hand.

'…Oh, the picture of Tifa? Er…stick it on top of the side table, if you could, thanks…' he replied. She frowned a little.

'You know, after what she was like to you I'm surprised you'd want to keep a picture…I know I wouldn't…'

Cloud stopped flattening out boxes for a second. He looked at her, and then shrugged.

'Yeah, I guess…it's just there were some really great times, and that photo happens to be one of 'em…'

They paused for a second. Aeris giggled slightly to break the silence as she picked up the next one. Cloud frowned slightly as he saw which one it was.

'Ah, look how cute you look in this one…who's that with yo-' she said, then stopped abrubtly. The picture slid from her fingers, but Cloud snapped round and caught it just above the ground. Pulling back up, he glanced at her to check she was alright.

'Hey, you ok?' he asked. He looked at her face – she had paled and was blinking fast. After another bit of uncomfortable silence, she smiled weakly and turned to him.

'Yes, sorry, it's just…that I've remembered something rather important…would you – I mean, do you mind if I could come back…later?' she stuttered. Cloud was still slightly confused.

'Yeah, sure…you better hop to it if it's important enough to leave me!' he jested. She laughed faintly, and then turned to pick up her bag. She left without a goodbye. Cloud shook his head, taken aback by the unusual behaviour. He then fell back onto the sofa and looked at the picture in his hand. It was another happy time, he realised grimly. He considered it to be one of the best pictures of him, even though it looked really dumb. It was Cloud with a party hat (slightly lost amongst the blonde spikes) reluctantly pulling back as Zack kissed him theatrically on the cheek. Cloud sniffed, then set it down.

Suddenly, a noise disturbed his. He got up and glided round the sofa, pulling back the curtain. He could see Aeris had gone straight to Reno's door and got him out. He had clearly been sleeping, he was topless again and rubbing his eyes. But Aeris was gesticulating and talking very fast, and at one piece of information, Reno's head snapped up. He gaped, then looked in Cloud's direction. Cloud shut the curtains to avoid being seen, then sat down again deeply confused.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

And then after that, she said she had forgotten something to do and ran straight to Reno's house…I kinda took the liberty of watching her. She had gotten Reno out of bed again and he looked pretty pissed, but she told him something that clearly mattered to him. Meh, makes no sense to me. And that's pretty much the most exciting thing that's happened…Except Aeris hasn't talked to me since. And that was three days ago. Huh.

Well, I s'pose I got some writing to catch up on, huh? Let's play 'guess the subject'

Tall and lean, muscled arms outstretched in preparation for embrace. A mess of black hair tumbles down his back, opposing the head of blonde that runs into the hug. The blonde

I'm sorry. I can't do this. This is hurting.

-C.